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Roderic,kingofConnaught,hadawhitetamegoat,remarkableforitsflowinghairandthelengthof
itshorns.Thisgoathadintercourse,bestially,withthewomantowhosecareithadbeencommitted;the
wretchedcreaturehavingseducedittobecometheinstrumentofgratifyingherunnaturallust,ratherthan
that the animal was the guilty actor. O foul and disgraceful deed! How dreadfully has reason given the
reinstosensuality!Howbrutallydoesthelordofbrutes,discardinghisnaturalprivileges,descendtothe
levelofbrutes,whenhe,rationalanimal,submitstosuchintercoursewithabeast!Foralthoughonboth
sides it is detestable and abominable, it is by far the least that brutes should be entirely submissive to
rationalcreatures.Butthoughbrutesaredestinedbynaturefortheserviceofmen,theywerecreatedfor
use,notabuse.Theindignationofnature,stronglyrepudiatingit,thusventsitselfinverse:
Omniajamnovitateplacent,novagratavoluptas,
EtnaturalisinveterataVenus.
Arteminusnaturaplacet,consumiturusus;
Inreprobosratio,jamrationecarens.
Visgenitivagemit,violatacupidinisarte,
Etviolansvindexpublicatirascelus.
Panditenimnaturanefas,proditquepudorem
Criminisinfandi,prodigiosacreans.
ChapterXXIV:Ofalionthatwasenamouredofawoman.
IsawatParisalionwhichsomecardinalhadpresented,whenitwasawhelp,toPhilip,thesonof
king Louis.100 This lion was in the habit of having bestial intercourse with a silly girl, whose name was
Joan.If,byanychance,itbrokeoutofitsden,andbecamesoinfuriatedthatnoonedaredtoapproachit,
Joanwascalled,andinstantlydisarmeditsmaliceandpacifieditsrage.Soothedbyfemaleallurements,it
followedherwhereshepleased,andimmediatelychangeditsfurytolove.Bothofthesebrutesmeriteda
shamefuldeath.Butnotonlyinmoderntimeshavetheseabominationsbeenattempted,butintheearliest
ages, remarkable for their greater innocence and simplicity of manners, society was polluted by these
infamousvices.ThuswefinditwritteninLeviticus:Ifawomanapproachuntoanybeastandliedown
thereto,thoushaltkillthewoman,andthebeastshallbeputtodeath.Theirbloodshallbeuponthem.101
Thebeastwascommandedtobeslain,notforitsguilt,ofwhichitsnatureasabruteexculpatedit,butasa
memorial, to recall to the mind the enormity of the sin. It is also the opinion of many persons, that the
storyofPasipha beingleapedbyabullwasnotamerefable,butanactualfact.
100
The celebrated Philippe Auguste, son of Louis VII. or Louis le Jeune. Philippe reigned over France from
1180to1223,butatthetimeGiralduswrotethisbookhehadnotyetsucceededtothethrone.
101
Levit.xx.16.
Topography of Ireland 49
ChapterXXV:ThatcocksinIrelandcrowatdifferenthoursfromthoseinothercountries.
CocksatroostinIrelanddonot,asinothercountries,dividethethirdandlastwatchesofthenight,
bycrowingatthreesuccessiveperiodsintheinterval.Heretheyareheardalittlebeforedawn;andtheday
isknowntobeasfarofffromthefirstcockcrowinghereasitiselsewherefromthethird.Norisittobe
supposedthattheyhavehereadifferentnaturefromthoseinothercountries;forcockswhicharebrought
overtotheislandfromotherpartscrowhereattheseperiods.AsBritainissatisfiedwithashortnight,so
isIreland;anditisalltheshorterforthesunssettingsomuchnearerthewest.Buttheshorterthenightis
here,somuchfasterthedaybreaksaftercock-crow.Hencealwaysinthesummertimetherisingmorn,as
itwere,soonbringsonday;andasthesundipsitsraysbutlittleundertheearth,allnightlongthereis
lightintheskyaboutthehorizon.
ChapterXXVI:OfwolveswhichwhelpedinthemonthofDecember.
In Ireland, the wolves often have whelps in the month of December, either in consequence of the
great mildness of the climate, or, rather, in token of the evils of treason and rapine, which are rife here
beforetheirproperseason.
ChapterXXVII:OftheravensandowlswhichoncehadyoungonesatChristmas.
At the Christmas when earl John first quitted the island, the ravens and owls had young ones in
several parts of Ireland, and particularly in Meath, prognosticating, perchance, the occurrence of some
new and premature event. Thus was proclaimed the fatal death, in the same year, of Hugh de Lacy, the
lordofthatterritory,throughthetreacheryofhissubjects.102
ChapterXXVIII:Ofmiracles;and,first,oftheapples,andravens,andblackbirdsofSt.Keiwin.
Let us now pass to the miracles, beginning with those of St. Keiwin, the illustrious confessor and
abbot.103WhenSt.KeiwinhadbecomecelebratedforhislifeandsanctityatGlindelachan,104anobleboy,
oneofhisscholars,happenedtofallsick,andhadacravingforsomeapples.Thesaint,takingcompassion
on him, and having prayed to the Lord, a willow-tree, which stood near the church, bore apples, to the
reliefoftheboyaswellasofothersickpersons.Andeventothepresentdaythatwillow,andothersets
from it, planted in the neighbouring cemetery, produce apples every year, as if it were an orchard,
102
ForHughdeLacyseeafterwardsb.ii.cc.1820,and22oftheConquestofIreland.
103
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